Taranaki Display

The Taranaki Summer Display

The Taranaki Summer Show is the only Orchid Show in the World (Southern Hemisphere) that is held at the right time and place to have a really nice display of Disas. While Disa displays have also been held in South Africa in the past, they are not a regular event and are becoming more infrequent. The Taranaki Summer Show is held every year on the second weekend in January. The Orchid displays were very nice and about what one would expect from a small town like Modesto, California. It's obvious that there are not a lot of Orchid hobbyists in New Zealand but for the number of people attending, the display was impressive. Since there was not an exceptionally large attendance, there was an opportunity to have a number of one-on-one conversations that proved to be very enlightening. The Show had displays of a large number of genera but naturally, I spent most of the time admiring the Disa display which was most impressive. One would be hard pressed here in the States to have as many quality Disas on display from so many different people.

Another aspect of the Summer Display is that it is held very near Pukekura Park. The parks in New Zealand are run differently from here in the States. If you were to consider a park the size of Central park in New York or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with all the attendant sub groups like a Botanic Garden and Sports complexes as well as Bandstands, Historic exhibits, and Kiddie rides, you would approach the complexity of Pukekura Park. Then if you filled it with people actively enjoying it at night, you would be even closer to the ambiance. We went on a night time tour of the park and it was so full, we actually had to push our way through in certain spots like around the bandstand. Any time that we had a free couple of hours, we could walk up to the park and enjoy a different aspect.

The Summer Display wasn't just a Display with another room having a large number of venders like we see here in the States. In fact, except for the Boot Sale held on Saturday, there was no set up to sell to the public. Instead of just providing for a selling opportunity for vendors, there were a number of meetings concentrating on a particular genus, in which the group had a small presentation followed by a very open question and answer session where the main object was the sharing of information. This all took place with a minimum of politics. Besides the Disa group, there were also meetings of the Odontoglossum group, the Paphiopedilum group and the Masdevallia group. The topic of main interest this time in the Disa group was whether the yellow tips on the end of the lateral sepals were a result of selection and genetics or environmental factors. They apparently had an unusual blooming season this year and a lot of these yellow tips were showing up. I don't think any absolute conclusion was reached but I definitely am going to be more cognizant of their appearance in the future. My former buddy Ron Maunder then sandbagged me into telling the way we northerners grow Disas in the States. (Just kidding Ron, you're still A OK in my book) I would have much rather heard more about New Zealand growing practices as they obviously have had a lot more success with Disas than we do in the States.

One miscellaneous observation about the Show was how reasonably priced everything was. The whole weekend only cost $35 NZD, which is about $16 USD. For that you got entry to the meetings, as well as Saturday dinner, lunch on both days, and breakfast snacks as well. One of the high points is the Boot Sale (what we in the western USA know as a Flea Market). Besides all the misc. orchids and botanicals, there were also 4 sellers of Disas. A blooming pot of Disas could be had for $10 NZD. (That's about $4.00 USD) Makes me sick! If only one could bring back blooming plants without worrying about CITES and all that paperwork nonsense!

I want to add that New Zealand is a particularly beautiful country in it's own right. We were able to spend about a month there and I would go back tomorrow if I could. With the current relationship of the US dollar to the NZ dollar, you are able to have a relatively inexpensive vacation if you want to visit NZ. If you have ever considered it, there's no time like the present. The next Taranaki Orchid Society Summer Display will be held in New Plymouth on Jan 11 - 13, 2002 and I'm sure that they would make you feel welcome. You can get details from the treasurer, Nola Hill at <hillcroft@clear.net.nz >.

Following are a number of pictures of happenings at the Show or flowers displayed. The number of flowers shown is actually quite a bit smaller than displayed due to me forgetting to photograph them until they started to take the display down and also because some of the flowers appear in the presentations covering the individual growers.

This photo by Ron Maunder is the only photo that I have which shows a bit of the layout in the main display hall. You see here about 25% of the Disa display and the other genera are on the rows of tables in the background.	Jim and Eloise Harper from the USA sharing secrets with Cesar Zapata
This is an overall view of half of the boot sale. It was initially as hectic as a Garage sale in the US but quickly quieted down as the choice plants were snapped up.
The Hills had a number of Disas for sale.	Ron Maunder also had plants for sale.
Kewdior 'Orangeade'	Kalahari Sands 'Paridise Glow'
	The flowers to the left and above are a Sunset cross.
	The flowers above and to the left are from an unnamed cross of Tridior.
The pictures to the right and above are both of a couple of plants of Disa tripetaloides. There were a couple plants displayed that had over 50 flowers which is unusual, at least in my experience.
Above is a particularly nice clone of Unifoam belonging to Ron Maunder while the plant on the right is uniflora 'Patrick'. The uniflora has some spotting due to Botrytis which I have partially edited out.
The picture Above and to the right show Unimeyer 'Unity' which put on quite a display.
	Above and to the right is a cross of uniflora x China Sun.
This is an unnamed and unidentified cross.	Watsonii 'Paridise Cyclamen Best'